What is Umbrel?

Umbrel is a new kind of OS for running a server in your home.

Wut??? Why would anyone run a server in their home?

We believe that everyone should be able to enjoy the convenience and benefits of the cloud without giving up ownership and control of their data.

The cloud is essentially someone else’s computer. And your photos, videos, files, notes, passwords — everything, have nothing to do with someone else’s computer.

So instead of paying ransoms for storing your own data on the cloud and having it auctioned off to advertisers — you could easily run a home server and self-host all of your data and services yourself.

And how does it work?

You can install Umbrel on commodity hardware, like a Raspberry Pi computer or any Debian/Ubuntu machine.

You can then access Umbrel’s UI in a web browser on any device connected to the same network. From there, you can install self-hosted apps from the Umbrel App Store that suit your use cases — e.g. Nextcloud (Dropbox replacement), Matrix (your own messaging server), Bitcoin node (to interact with the Bitcoin network without a third party), and more.

Interesting. Can I have a look at the product?

Sure, here’s a minute-long video.

Kinda reminds me of the personal computer revolution...

Exactly. The personal computer revolution shifted computing from rooms full of computers (mainframes) to personal computers in the 1970s. The personal server revolution will shift computing from rooms full of servers (data centers) to personal servers in the 2020s.

Big plans, bruh. Have you raised any money?

Yes, we’ve raised about $3.5M. We’re fortunate to be backed by some of the world’s best investors, including Naval Ravikant, Ram Shriram, Joseph Jacks (OSS Capital), Sahil Lavingia, Sam Lessin (Slow Ventures), Anne Dwane (Village Global), Andreas Antonopoulos, Owen Gunden, Max Webster, Stephen Cole, and more.

What stage is the product at?

Umbrel is currently in beta (0.5.2) with 20,000+ users. We’re no longer in the 0 to 1 phase of product building. We have more confidence that users want to self-host as much of their data locally as possible, and developers of self-hosted apps want access to a seamless distribution of their apps via an app store.

And what does the tech stack look like?

~90% of our source code is written in JavaScript, ~8% is in Shell, and the remaining ~2% is in Python. We leverage Docker and Docker Compose heavily in Umbrel (for our app framework). You can view our source code on our GitHub(we’ll migrate to a monorepo soon):

• getumbrel/umbrel: Master repository which orchestrates and runs all the system services and app containers

• getumbrel/umbrel-dashboard: Web-based UI, written in Vue.js

• getumbrel/umbrel-manager: System API, written in Node.js

• getumbrel/secret-project-coming-soon: React, Next.js, Framer Motion, Tailwind CSS

Okay, and how’s the work/life balance?

All of us enjoy complete freedom to create our own work schedules and work from anywhere in the world. Most of our team communication is async. You won’t find endless Zoom calls or full calendars here. Just a calm, creative group of humans enjoying challenging problems at the intersection of art and technology.

As a result of being an early-stage startup, we wouldn’t want to hide this reality from you: raw hours make a big difference on the impact we can make right now. This won’t always be the case, but it is at present. So we often find ourselves working later on in the evenings and sometimes on weekends, but it’s mostly driven by personal ambition. We don’t have any expectations from anyone to do so.

So what are you looking for?

Talent, passion, genuine love for your craft, and the desire to do meaningful work. What we’re not looking for: credentials and degrees. When you really love what you do, work feels like play. And when work feels like play, you become the best at it. That’s what we’re looking for.

If you join us, you’ll be among the first ten team members, and your work will have a direct impact on shaping Umbrel’s future.

What are you looking for in your Design Engineer?

We're looking for the kind of person who's so paranoid about the implementation of their Figma/Sketch design they trust noone but themself to code the frontend.

Someone who:

• Cares deeply about crafting beautiful, soulful user interfaces that are full of life

• Ships UI components in React or Vue.js (or both)

• Obsesses over micro-interactions and animations

• Is extremely supportive, especially when teammates are faced with new challenges

• Leaves no opportunity to sneak jokes into the source code

• Likes to autonomously figure out solutions

• Thinks hard about every problem and its solution from the user’s perspective

• Values clear and frequent communication (we do a lot of reading and writing)

• Enjoys being a generalist and is not tied down to a specific framework or surface area of the codebase

• Is naturally curious and willing to learn more

• Feels a great sense of accountability to teammates

• Has a good judgement of when to ship: perfect is the enemy of good

Even better if you:

• Are a previous founder or have worked at a startup

• Have a great taste in memes

How can I apply?

Just click the apply button on top or send an email to mayank@umbrel.com.

In your application, please include:

• Your resume and/or your read.cv/linkedin profile

• That you found us on read.cv

• Your portfolio/GitHub and/or a product that you’re the proudest of building

• A little bit on why you’d like to join us

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If you're looking for backend or a full-stack developer position, please apply here.